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James Flint
James Flint is the Captain of the pirate ship Walrus, and known throughout the West Indies as being the most feared of all the Golden Age pirates. Originally an officer of the Royal Navy, he eventually became one of the most successful pirate captains in the Bahamas. His charisma masks a deep, simmering rage, and a propensity towards breathtaking violence. In order to hold off the British and Spanish forces he’ll make himself ruler of Nassau through any means necessary. Biography Royal Navy Most of Flint's youth is shrouded in mystery. What is known is that Flint was once an officer in the Royal Navy and the best friend of aristocrat Thomas Hamilton. He began an affair with Hamilton's wife Miranda. Thomas became depressed when he learned of his wife's infidelity and died some time later. Flint and Miranda left England shortly after Thomas' death to start a new life in the Americas. Flint the Pirate Once he reached New Providence Island, Flint joined the Caribbean pirates, eventually becoming captain of the mighty Walrus. Over the next ten years, he became the most successful pirate on the island, bringing to Nassau more booty than all other pirate captains. He maintained the relationship with Miranda Barlow, who also settled on New Providence. However, stories soon arose among Flint's sailors about Miranda being a witch who has enslaved Flint to do her bidding. On one occasion, Flint and his crew followed the merchantman Maria Aleyne for months, believing that her cargo is worth a fortune. However, when the pirates boarded the merchant ship, they discovered that the booty was much smaller than they expected, and some of them noticed that Flint has slain two unarmed passengers, and later gave a report about their deaths to Miranda. The Hunt for the Urca In 1715, Flint was leading an attack against an unnamed merchant ship. As his crew is butchering the merchant crew, he exhibited restraint by calling an early stop to the slaughter. Taking control of the ship, Flint went to the captured captain's quarters in search of the shipping schedule of the Urca de Lima. To the dismay of Flint and his quartermaster Gates, the page had been torn from the book. In the Captain's quarters, Gates informed Flint that he believed Singleton was very close to having enough votes to depose Flint from his captaincy. Gates stated that the crew were desperate for larger prizes and felt that Flint is no longer effective. With the schedule seemingly lost, Flint told Gates that he planned to get a copy of the schedule from Richard Guthrie, the chief black market merchant in Nassau. With the Walrus' Boatswain Billy Bones accompanying him, Flint went to Guthrie's mansion and requested an audience with Guthrie. At the meeting with Guthrie, Flint told him about his desire to capture the Urca de Lima and about his pursuit of the missing schedule. The meeting was interrupted by several members of the British Royal Navy, led by Captain Hume of the Scarborough. This lead to a confrontation where Guthrie was shot in the shoulder. Flint decided it was best to take the wounded Guthrie to the Walrus. Once aboard the ship, Gates told Flint that it was time for the vote. Before the vote, Flint retired to his cabin for a moment, where he discovered a white feather that had been placed in a drawer as an alarm. Realizing that it was likely that a member of his own crew had the schedule, Flint devised a scheme that would hopefully help him defeat Singleton. Flint accused Singleton of having undermined their effort to capture the treasure ship by stealing the schedule from the logbook. The two men then engaged in a duel. During the sword fight, Singleton initially had the upper hand but once Flint struck Singleton across the face with a small cannonball, the tide turned and Flint beat Singleton to a bloody pulp. Still hovering over the defeated Singleton, Flint pulled a piece of paper from the clothes of Singleton and handed it to Bones. Bones opened the paper and saw that it was blank. Bones' loyalty was effectively being put to the test by Flint handing him the paper. Bones could either expose Flint for being a liar or could claim that it was the missing schedule, exonerating Flint. Bones chose to stick by Flint and told the crew that it was indeed the missing schedule. Flint then pumps up the crew when he, for the first time, was honest with them about his mission to capture the Urca de Lima. He claimed that the ship was of such value that it will make them "princes of the New World". Despite winning the duel, Flint still had a bigger problem on his hand: finding the stolen schedule. He eventually realized that it could only be one member of his crew: the cook John Silver. Flint chased Silver to the shore and eventually came to find out that Silver was planning on selling the schedule to Charles Vane and Jack Rackham. Flint would eventually catch Silver and was horrified to find out that Silver had burned the schedule, but had committed it to memory. Flint ended up taking the wounded Richard Guthrie to the house of his lover, Miranda Barlow, for recovery. He asked Miranda to take care of Guthrie while he went about preparing for the expedition against the treasure ship. In Nassau, Eleanor Guthrie promises to finance the expedition. Flint must find a second ship to accompany him and it was determined that the best choice would be the Ranger, Charles Vane's ship. However, before they set sail, Eleanor blacklisted Vane and made much of the Ranger crew switch to Flint. Before they set out on the expedition, Flint requested bigger guns for his ship. Eleanor promised that she would get them from the merchant ship the Andromache. When Eleanor is betrayed by her father Richard, the Andromache left port with her guns still aboard. Flint decided that he must chase after her to get the guns for his expedition. When Flint eventually caught up with the Andromache, he boarded her but found out that her captain, Dyfed Bryson had alerted the Royal Navy ship Scarborough of her location in anticipation of Flint attacking her. As the crew of the Walrus struggled to find a way into the Andromache's hold where Bryson and other members of the Andromache crew were hiding, Flint appeared to be losing a slight grip on loyal members of his crew such as Logan, who openly questioned Flint's decision to stay aboard the Andromache as daylight approached and the Scarborough drew nearer. However, Gates once again displayed his loyalty by punching Logan in the face and reminding the crew of their sworn duty to follow Flint to the death in battle. Eventually, after retrieving the guns from the Andromache and attempting to escape, Flint realized that a mast from the Andromache had broken off and gotten tangled with the Walrus. While Flint and Bones struggled to free the ship from the broken mast, Flint questioned Bones about a letter that Bones had found in Bryson's cabin from Mrs. Barlow. Before Bones could say anything about the content of the letter, he was swept overboard and was presumed dead. After they are safe, the crew hold a funeral as sea for the men who died, with Captain Flint presiding over it. After returning to Nassau, Flint met up with Eleanor and discussed the changes to the islands leadership while he was gone, and bring up the fact that her father was responsible for the trouble Flint went through getting the cannons. As he was heading out, Eleanor pointed out to him that Silver had been of help to Eleanor and that she promised him that she would inform Flint not to kill him once he was done assisting him. After the meeting, Flint returned to the Walrus and was cornered by Gates in his office. Gates questions Flint about the letter Billy found before his death, and then questions Flint on the matter of Billy dying really being an accident. Personality Flint is very charismatic and is a powerful leader of men. He is at times mistrustful of his crew, believing himself to be the only person intelligent enough to carry out most operations. He can be aggressive, sometimes overly so, in his desire to get what he wants. He is a skilled and cunning fighter. Mr. Gates goes as far to say that he is incredibly strong in a fight, even exceeding Charles Vane's abilities in combat. Flint is also a great manipulator and is cunning, shrewd and ruthless. Trivia * Flint is a fictitious character created originally by Robert Louis Stevenson. * His first name is revealed as James in Miranda Barlow's letter to the authorities in Massachusetts.VI. Memorable Quotes Appearances *''I.'' *''II.'' *''III.'' *''IV.'' *''V.'' *''VI.'' *''VII.'' *''VIII.'' *''IX.'' References Category:Major Characters Category:Captains Category:Male Characters Category:Living Characters Category:Pirate Category:Walrus Crew Category:Characters